Yeah, I thought it might be something like that. Even if it was real, how would he know it's a detective novel? Unless he stood over her shoulder when she wrote, and she's bound to notice that.

The link to the Mugglenet story is here, by the way.

 

I'm still not ruling out that JKR will cash in on her publicity to write another novel. Actually I remember reading about the possiblity of her planning on writing a new novel here (which was before the Rankin gossip):

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2007/07/27/rowling-new-books.html?ref=rss

We'll just have to wait and see what JKR herself says.

 

I don't know about JKR, but if I were in her position, I would just write. Why would I box myself into a genre like "mystery" or "fantasy"? I bet Conan didn't sit down and say "Hay! I know! I'll write a detective story... I'll call it Sherlock Holmes! It'll sell millions!"

I'd get inspired, come up with a plot, and give it some value. Harry Potter was a "children's book" for a reason –*it wasn't particuarly deep. Most of the literary elite find it simlpy horrid.

She's the richest author that ever lived – she could come up with her own philosophy and be immortalized. Her next book will sell, even if it sucks. I find it baffling she'd consider going into a detective mystery of all things.

 

You mean like Ron L Hubbard did?